(LEAD) Samsung C&T net earnings drop 26.7 pct in Q3

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 4-7)

SEOUL, Oct. 23 (Yonhap) -- Samsung C&T Corporation (Samsung C&T), South Korea's largest builder, said Thursday its net earnings for the third quarter dropped 26.7 percent on-year to 64.67 billion won (US$61.26 million), due to the company paying a considerable amount of corporate taxes.

The company, which also operates a trading arm, said in its regulatory filing that its operating profits soared 37.5 percent to just under 193.41 billion won in the same period, while sales numbers edged down 2.7 percent from the year before to slightly over 6.88 trillion won.

"There was a sharp rise in one-off corporate taxes that were paid at home and abroad that contributed to the weaker bottom line for the three-month period," a company official said.

In terms of operating profit, overseas construction work in places such as Australia, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, as well as project-organizing efforts underway generated earnings for the company.

It added that trading operations in Canada also helped.

Samsung C&T said overall sales numbers slipped, in part because of weak global chemical product prices.

The company said up to the end of September, it secured 7.9 trillion won worth of orders, of which 4.5 trillion won came from abroad.

The builder and trading company, an affiliate of Samsung Group, the country's largest family-run conglomerate, said for the whole of this year, its bottom line jumped a robust 28.4 percent to 339.55 billion won, with operating profit moving up 47.7 percent on-year to 454.15 billion won and sales edging up 0.2 percent to 20.79 trillion won.

Shares of Samsung C&T fell 0.55 percent to 71,800 won on the Seoul bourse, as the benchmark KOSPI also surrendered 0.27 percent. The company released its third-quarter results shortly after the market closed.

yonngong@yna.co.kr
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